Rangers recap: Seven-run sixth ignites Texas blowout of Rays

The Rangers won for the sixth consecutive time at Globe Life Park, ripping the Tampa Bay Rays 12-4 Saturday night. Texas has won three in a row and pulled a half game ahead of the Rays in the wild-card standings. The Rangers are a 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot and a game behind the Baltimore Orioles.

Pitching: Colby Lewis held the Rays to one run on five hits through six innings and left with a 10-1 lead. He improved to 13-5 with the win. Lewis struck out four and walked two.

Spencer Patton took over in the seventh and struggled. He loaded the bases after two singles and a walk before Jake Diekman replaced him with one out and struck out Richie Shaffer for the second out. Evan Longoria singled in two runs to cut Texas’ lead to 10-3 before catcher Chris Gimenez picked off Longoria at first to end top of the seventh. Tampa Bay added a run in the eighth against Diekman to make it 12-4.

Hitting: Shin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder had back to back doubles with one out in the first to give Texas a 1-0 lead. Gimenez’s two-run homer in the second made it 3-0. Rays starter Chris Archer settled down for the next few innings but the Rangers exploded for seven more runs in the sixth. Texas batted around, collecting seven hits, including a double by Elvis Andrus and a three-run homer by Adrian Beltre. Another run scored on a throwing error home by pitcher Kirby Yates on a tapper back to the mound. Delino DeShields slid in safely as the throw sailed high and wide over the catcher.

In the seventh, Choo hit a two-run homer to right to make it 12-3. It’s his 15th.

Notable: Fielder collected his 46th multi-hit game ... Beltre has 16 seasons with 10 or more homers, joining Alex Rodriguez (18) and David Ortiz (16) as the only other active players with as many.

This story was originally published August 15, 2015 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Seven-run sixth ignites Texas blowout of Rays."